


Divine Addiction  ((ON HIATUS))

by nightshade_kitten



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Background Character Death, Canon Disabled Character, F/F, F/M, I'm being creative, Just another Sburb Uni. AU, M/M, Multi, Non-Canon Relationship, Still making this intense though its a Sburb Uni AU, as in romantic relationships & family stuff, pretty much everyone is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-23 14:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7466493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightshade_kitten/pseuds/nightshade_kitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Lalonde and Dave Strider have been close since they were babies so it's only natural that when Rose chose to attend Sburb University in England, both of them would move from America to attend together.<br/>As they make friends with other students and settle into their classes, not without issues with Sburb's computer systems, they start to enjoy their new life in the UK.<br/>Then Rose falls in love, Kanaya falls back in hate, Feferi falls down the stairs and John just exists. </p><p>TL;DR - A Sburb Uni AU in which the author is a right bitch to Hussie's characters and practically everyone is gay.<br/>[tags will be updated as chapters are released]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival - Rose & Dave

**Author's Note:**

> 27/08/2016 - I've lost a lot of motivation among some other personal issues recently so won't be updating until further notice. Apologies to anyone following this fic, this isn't an attention cry or anything, I just don't want to start posting lackluster chapters for the sake of schedule. Thank you for reading and supporting the fic :)
> 
> Sorry I didn't make the aforesaid date, I really enjoy this fic but I'm struggling with it at the moment. You have my apologies

Opening the car door, Rose took a deep breath of cool, fresh air and stretched liberally. Though the long drive was well more than worth it considering the destination, the flight before had not helped in the comfort of the final leg of the journey. Catching the eye of her cousin who had also mimicked her actions upon exiting the rental car, he smirked back in a silent agreement of their shared excitement.

Then all she saw was a rush of white and the smell of cheap fabric softener struggling to disguise the vodka.

“Oh my baby Rosie! This is really it, you’re all grown up now!” 

“Yes Mom, you have been going on about me ‘finally reaching womanhood’ for the past month and a half,” Rose replied to her slightly intoxicated mother, “I thought you may have actually accepted my age by now.”

In the midst of black-lipstick prints in blonde hair and subtle complaints from the recipient, Rose’s cousin, Dave was also sharing a particular type of moment with his legal guardian.

“Bro, you really don’t have to pretend to be all up and sentimental about the loss of your sibling to a white-ass school in the rolling hills of fucking England. I mean, I guess you want to follow through with the fatherly bullshit you’ve been shoving down my throat like cold medicine since I was on baby rice but still, Bro, hold back on the tears and windpipe-crushing hugs until I end up broke and at your doorstep all up and like ‘Hey, I’m currently homeless and fucking wasted, guess who’s moving back home’ and then you-“

“Dave.” 

“Yeah?”

“Shut up for ten seconds and give me a hug.”

“I mean, sure, but like… This is totally just a new level of ironic parenting, right?”

“Yeah, Dave, this is all for the epic irony.”

Neither of the Strider boys ever admitted to the tear-stained eyes hidden behind dark glasses, but Dirk secretly cherished how tightly Dave gripped him in the completely ironic hug. In fact, it reminded him somewhat of when Dave was only a toddler and was terrified of pretty much every light source. Then Dirk shed a few more ironic tears of his own.

Once the whole Strider-Lalonde bunch were emotionally sated, they started to unload some of Dave and Rose’s stuff out of the car and head towards signing into their new University.

Walking out of the car park, Rose immediately beamed at the sight of a couple of small grassy areas dotted with trees in front of the main University building. She could already imagine herself studying out here when the weather permitted.

Dave was unimpressed.

The four of them walked up the pathway separating the grass and into the main entrance. As they had arrived a day prior to the official ‘Move-In Day’ there were only a few students inside. The high ceilings and old-fashioned wooden structure inside were part of the attraction both kids had felt towards choosing Sburb Uni. The floors were polished wood and the cream walls were adorned with the work of some previous student’s art work. As they waited for an attendant to sign them in, Rose couldn’t help herself from studying the nearest piece.

The black frame outlined an image of what Rose could only describe as a red and somewhat green bonfire. The flames seemed to stem from a jade-coloured rose and the tips morphed back into blood red petals. It was quite intriguing and colourful, despite the limited palette. The name displayed underneath read ‘True Beauty Burns Brighter, by Porrim Maryam.’ Rose took a mental note to remember the name, she was intrigued to see if this ‘Porrim’ had any other images displayed.

“And if you could just sign here then you can take these welcome packs and I’ll lead you to the mixed Beta dorm. After you settle in there will be a small buffet provided in the canteen here,” the attendant, Drew, marked a map with a red sharpie, “Sound good?”

The four nodded, signed and headed off towards where Rose and Dave would be spending the next few years of their life.

-_-_-_-_-

“Mom, you don’t need to take so many photos, I haven’t even made my bed yet!”

“Shh, sweetie, let Mama have her fun while she still can,” Roxy winked pointedly at her daughter who responded only with an eye roll and a smirk. Rose never was one to truly dislike her mother and she knew she was going to miss her ‘motherly’ antics.

Rose sat down on her bed. Her room was spacious, even for a double, and naturally already contained basic furniture; a bed, desk, wardrobe and set of drawers for each dweller as well as a small stand with a microwave and a kettle. The walls were lifeless cream and the same hardwood floor from the main building continued into the dorm houses. Rose was most thankful for the small adjacent bathroom that could be accessed via a door next to her new wardrobe. It was one of the few Universities she had researched that had baths as well as showers for each room and was another reason she chose to study at Sburb.

Already Rose had selected her side of the room and had switched about her furniture until she was comfortable. Underneath the large window covering most of the far wall was her desk that she had positioned at the side of her bed. By far her biggest achievement was moving her bed so it lied where the sun couldn’t beam directly into her eyes at 6am on a Monday morning. At the foot of her bed sat her chest of drawers followed by her wardrobe and the entrance to the bathroom. The door to enter her room was on the furthest corner which pleased her, less foot traffic from her roommate.

It hadn’t taken long to move all of her stuff into her new room with the help of her mother and quickly she had transferred all of her clothing into their new homes and setup her laptop. There were now only a few superficial decorating tasks to do and a couple more boxes of miscellaneous items such as her music books and knitting. 

Thankfully, they had already eaten so Rose logged onto Pesterchum to speak to some of her friends back in the States. She was going to miss them but she most looked forward to the new life ahead of her in Sburb.

That night, Dave walked across the corridor and laid haphazardly on Rose’s bed while she updated her latest Harry Potter fanfic. Roxy and Dirk had retired to their hotel for the night and would return the following morning for the official goodbye-cry-session.

“Hey Rose. Are you shit scared about the whole moving-country thing? Not that I am or anything, just gotta look out for my beloved cousin, ya know?” Dave murmured from her pile of pillows and plushies. Rose sighed, save her progress and shut her laptop.

“Of course I am, it’s only natural to be anxious as to what our future holds, especially considering the degree of changes we are facing. However, no matter what happens, we will have each other to rely on and going back home is always an option.” He smirked at this and turned to her, shadeless for the first time in years.

“Yeah, that’s 100% fucking accurate right there. If your roommate is an asshole then you can always bring me offers of sweet AJ in return for crashing at mine for the night.”

“I may pass on that. We have been moved in for a few hours and I can already feel the unironic stench of Strider from across the hall, all Doritos and teenage boy angst. I think I’ll risk it with my roommate,” She winked back at Dave.

“Well at least I haven’t brought back Hot Topic to the UK and decided to run it from my dorm room like some weird meth lab, only without the fucking drugs and with more eyeliner and terrible band t-shirts.”

“Touche, dearest cousin.”

At this, the Strider grabbed a pillow and blanket from his own room only to return and crash on the currently empty bed opposite to Rose’s. She smiled and locked the door, she knew he was absolutely terrified of all the changes (always had been) so wordlessly turned off the light and climbed into her own bed.

“I’m only in here because they haven’t set up the air-con in my room yet, shit is not pleasant in the fucking slightest." He said, Rose deciding to forget that the University didn’t provide air conditioning in favour of wishing Dave a good night and going to sleep.

This was the last night for a long time that they would be able to rest without exams or social lives weighing them down, so they took advantage and slept how they had done for in the months as small children before Bro could afford his own apartment.

So it began; a new life for the kids at Sburb University.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> This is my first Homestuck fanfiction but I have many, many plans for these characters so be prepared ;)  
> Next chapter will be uploaded next week (or possibly sooner if I feel like it) and I promise we get to meet a few more characters.


	2. Meeting, Kanaya & Porrim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The pesterchats don't seem to be formatting correctly so they are not coloured. I'll try to fix this at some point in the future.

“Porrim, please stop messing with my suitcase. We are planning to leave with Mother in an hour, and I do not believe you are helping by last-minute rearranging my clothing.”

Kanaya stood by her mother’s car, watching the black cotton-clad bottom half of her sister hang out of the boot. Her arms were folded and she was entirely unimpressed with Porrim’s antics. One day she would plan ahead instead of burying the cardigan she simply had to borrow from her sister’s wardrobe.

“Oh shush, you are way too particular, Kanny; learn to lighten up a bit! And there we go!”

At this point Porrim pulled herself out of the car and began arranging a lace-trimmed, green cardigan over her dress. “See, I needed this to complete the outfit. The lace matches the heels and the thong,” She winked. Kanaya sighed, rolling her eyes at her sister’s blatant over-sexuality. Although, she had to admit the dress complemented the shoes perfectly; she still remained quite annoyed at the disorganised mess her sister had made. But before she could structure a passive-aggressive reply, their mother exited the house and called them to get in the car, twirling her keys around her fingertip and smoothing the creases in her red pencil skirt.

“Come on, my beautiful girls, the drive won’t start itself!”

About half an hour into the three hour journey, Porrim lit a cigarette and began to smoke it outside the passenger-side window. She always got the front seat as she was a year Kanaya’s senior, not that she ever minded, preferring the freedom to stretch out across the backseats. At this point Kanaya was pestering her off-again, on-again partner Vriska, who was also planning to move in today.

\-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]  at 10:34 --  
GA: Hello Vriska How Is Your Journey So Far  
AG: Hey fussyfangs! It's 8een pretty gooooooood, almost there now!  
GA: Nice To Hear  
GA: My Sister Has Decided To Start A Cigarette In The Car So If I Come To Sburb With A Fatal Lung Disease You Know Why  
AG: Oooooooooh, using that sarcasm again I see, I'm proud of you :::;)  
GA: I Am Going To Pretend That Was Sincere So  
GA: Thank You  
GA: Have You As Of Yet Recieved Your Roommate I Believe My Email May Have Not Arrived  
AG: No ::::( I wonder if they have allowed for us to 8e together like in school, Roomie :::;)  
GA: I Doubt It As Permanent Records Are Permanent  
AG: Don't sound so sad fussyfangs! It was pro8a8ly after the fire incident that was allllllll your fault!  
GA: Vriska Now Is Nor The Time Nor The Place  
AG: Okay, okay  
AG: Anyway, Sollux told me that apparently there was a mixup with the admissions to Alpha and 8eta so it's taking a loooooooong time for them to fix it  
GA: How Did He Find That Out  
AG: Hacking, what else do you think?  
GA: Oh Yes I Do Apologise For Forgetting  
AG: Its nice to see S8ur8 is living up to their prestigious university status at the start of the school year :::;)  
GA: I Do Not Believe This Is A Good Start For Sburb At All Vriska  
AG: ........  
GA: Was That Sarcasm Again  
AG: :::;)  
GA: Ill Speak To You Later  
\-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]  at 11:03 –

Kanaya sighed and locked her phone; instead opting to open her tablet and continue her latest concept sketch. It was a decently long journey ahead so she hoped to complete it on the road then begin structuring a pattern in the evening.

A few hours later, the two girls were both quite drowsy as the traffic had somewhat taken its toll and both were more than ready to start moving in. Kanaya had drifted into a peaceful pre-sleep state while Porrim was carefully reapplying her black lipstick. 

Their mother suddenly switched off the stereotypically emo playlist Porrim had selected for the journey. “Hey! That was Green Day, an utter classic!” She huffed in response to her mother’s decision. 

“They all sound like teenage trash to me…” replied Kanaya from the backseat, waking up fully and stretching.

“Shut it Kan, your musical taste is bland as hell.” Before Kanaya could whip out a sarcastic response, their mother interrupted the girls’ spat.

“Shush, you two, we are just about to pull into the university.”

“Finally,” Porrim muttered, opting to chew on some bubble gum as she knew it annoyed Kanaya to no end. However, Kanaya was excited enough to ignore her sister’s continued antics and instead turned to look out the car window. She admired the grassy plains outside the main building. As long as it wasn’t too wet out, it would be quite the perfect location to work on her patterns.

As their mum parked the car, the girls started to organise themselves. Kanaya decided to bring a backpack aswell as her handbag so she could unpack her laptop and other technology straightaway, whereas Porrim just held her handbag and document folder. With the car packed and parked out front, the three of them joined the growing crowd leading into the main building of Sburb.

“Seriously?” Porrim beamed running over to the nearest wall, “I can’t believe they put this up here!” 

Kanaya turned to her sister and smiled; it seemed that a piece of Porrim’s art, one that she had submitted for the previous year’s exams, had been selected to be hung among other 2nd Year art students work. She was happy her sister was succeeding in her studies here, especially considering how her outward enthusiasm was such a rare sight. 

The art seemed to distract the Maryam trio enough that it took quite a loud shout for them to notice the commotion currently going on.

“What do you mean there has been a fucking mix-up?! I don’t want to be shipped around room-to-room for the first month of Uni like a fucking piece of livestock!” Kanaya noticed the voice immediately to be a friend of a friend she had on Facebook; she had only accepted the request at Vriska’s insistence then promptly muted as his frequent rants about absolutely everything were quite aggravating. They had only briefly met at a concert and Kanaya was happy enough to forget his existence.

“Please, Sir. We are trying to fix this, but it seems someone hacked into our computer systems earlier this morning. All the students who haven’t already been signed in are currently missing,” the attendant flustered, clearly struggling to calm the kid down.

“Karkat, you should have some manners. It is clear the staff here have their hands metaphorically tied in this situation and have no choice but to make us, as well as this gathering crowd of people, wait for some sort of solution.” This was a voice Kanaya did not recognise and in fact only heard as her and her family moved into the crowd alongside the other future students.

Then Kanaya remembered something Vriska mentioned earlier and bit her lip; all the shouting from Karkat settled into distant noises. At that point her phone pinged, alerting her to a pesterchat.

 

\-- arachnidsGrip [AG]  began pestering grimAuxiliatrix [GA] at 12:47 –-

AG: Hey Kan, seems there has 8een a full on clusterfuck so everyone is w8ing in the hall  
AG: Where are you????????  
GA: Im In The Hall  
GA: I Believe This Was Solluxs Doing Was It Not  
AG: Unfortun8ly, fussyfangs, you are correct ::::(  
AG: 8ut his idiocy has to stay 8etween us, wouldn't want him kicked out 8efore the fun starts :::;)  
GA: Fair Enough  
GA: I Wouldnt Want Him To Be Punished Because Of This  
GA: What Do You Suppose The Staff Will Do Now  
GA: They Can Hardly Leave The Whole Student Body And Their Respective Family Members Waiting In The Entrance  
GA: I Doubt There Will Be Enough Room  
AG: What makes you think I would know? I'm hardly psychic!!!!!!!!  
AG: I guess they might just have to make it up for now to get all us students out of the way and then may8eeeeeeee fit us all in  
AG: Fingers crossed ::::)  
GA: Fingers Crossed Indeed  
GA: I Believe We May Aswell Continue This Chat In Person  
GA: Do You See My Sisters Beautiful Artwork  
AG: What, you mean the green fire-rose 8ullshit on the wall?  
GA: Yes That Exactly  
AG: Sure I do! Meet you there :::;)

\-- arachnidsGrip [AG]  ceased pestering grimAuxiliatrix [GA] at 12:59 –-

Shortly later, after a brief session of only slightly awkward hugs and introductions, Vriska accompanied by her elder sister Aranea and their mother only known as Ms. Serket stood with the Maryams as the staff hurried around trying to figure out the rooming situation. It seemed that there were a multitude of fake students that had somehow been entered into the system and as they were sorting through the fakes, a security firewall had been triggered so no more information could be accessed.

Currently, the staff were going round taking all of the student’s names which they were now comparing to a selection of lists. From the angle the girls could see, it was evident they had resorted to hand-sorting the students into rooms and were attempting to minimise empty rooms being mixed with full ones.

Amongst the crowd were a few familiar faces to Kanaya: Sollux, his father and his older brother Mituna who were naturally accompanied by a Miss Pyrope and what Kanaya assumed was her family. She briefly remembered Sollux’s regular complaints about his brother being engaged to someone whose first name escaped her. They all seemed to be happy enough apart from Sollux. He was blushing hard; pale Irish skin did not help him conceal his shame in the slightest.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

After a full forty minutes of waiting, which Kanaya had anxiously counted, the Staff began to send students off to their makeshift rooms. Unless there were any major mistakes, they said, these would be permanent residences for the students. There seemed to be a sigh of relief that echoed around the hall, and soon enough the Maryam and Serket sisters had split into the Alpha and Beta dorms respectively. The two older girls, who had already been somewhat getting along, went off alone to their new rooms, whereas their respective mothers remained with the younger two.

“Where did you end up, Kanny?” Vriska said after examining her own sheet.

“Kanaya, please, and it seems…” She looked over her own sheet. “I am on the first floor, room number 12.”

At this, Vriska beamed. “Hell yes, fussyfangs! Another year in eachother’s faces twenty-four seven!” She laughed. Kanaya was glad she was sharing her room with a known friend, especially because she knew she could have fun with Vriska in many ways but tried to ignore the red scrawl at the top of her sheet.

‘MAY BE CHANGED IN THE NEAR FUTURE, YOU WILL BE INFORMED SHORTLY’

Instead, she let Vriska clamber over her in joy for reasons that could not be spoken in front of their mothers who just enjoyed seeing their two girls happy with eachother.

As they entered the lift to the first floor, a blonde girl with a boy wearing sunglasses ran up and stopped them somewhat breathlessly. The girl smiled politely and entered the lift amongst the other people.

“First floor?” Ms. Serket asked the girl who nodded and smiled.

Exiting the lift, Kanaya began to head towards her room when the girl caught her attention. “Sorry to disturb you, I’m Rose Lalonde from room 8,” Kanaya was a little taken aback by both her thick American accent and well-spoken manner. “Nice to meet you, Rose, I’m Kanaya Maryam and I will be in room 12.” Rose smiled in response, she seemed exceedingly polite.

“I was just wondering if they had sorted out all the admissions today. My cousin and I arrived yesterday and we heard about all sorts of commotion.”

“I believe there was a massive issue concerning a lot of fake students and then a system shut down. They have put us all in somewhat temporary rooms but it seems quite a few of us have been able to be in our permanent rooms.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Well, only sort of, I wonder why someone would choose to enter fake details like that. Anyway, thank you for your assistance; I hope we can acquaint ourselves at the opening ceremony tonight, crisis permitting of course.”

“I hope so as well, Rose, it was a pleasure.” Then Rose walked away, waving back at Kanaya, who was struggling to hide the small crush she was seeming to develop on the little Lalonde girl. Walking in the direction of her new room Kanaya predicted the goth to be approximately 5 foot 3, quite a bit shorter than her own 5’10. She was cute even taking into consideration the heavy black makeup and lip piercing.

“Stop daydreaming, fussyfangs! We have moving in to do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read or left kudos on this fic, it really motivates me to keep writing.  
> Also a massive thank you to my editor for cleaning up all the mistakes I miss xD
> 
> Next chapter will be uploaded next Wednesday and things are starting to get... interesting ;)


	3. Possession - Vriska

Vriska dropped the final box just inside her new room and fell onto the nearest chair. All the moving back and forth from the car had taken its toll on her, not that she would ever admit to it. Then her mother called from the open door. “I’m going to say goodbye to Aranea now. Did you want me to stay for the opening ceremony this evening?” 

“No Mother, I don’t need any more help so go home,” Vriska responded, joining her mum in the doorway.

“Okay,” She kissed Vriska’s cheek and drew her in for a tight hug. Vriska would never admit to inhaling the familiar musky smell of her mother’s perfume and holding her for a little longer than needed. “Be good, stay safe. I trust you won’t get yourself into too much trouble but you have my number should a crisis occur.”

“I understand, Mother. Have a safe journey home.” Her mother responded with a brisk nod and Vriska watched her leave the corridor. Quickly she composed herself and turned back to admire her new dorm room. Kanaya was currently saying her goodbyes out in the car park so Vriska abused the opportunity to start moving boxes to the side she had chosen. Already, her mother had helped her rearrange the furniture slightly so it was more to her liking. This wasn’t their first time rooming together so the girls both knew the drill: Vriska got first pick of beds because she always moved it around and Kanaya generally preferred to leave things as they were. 

Kanaya had bought a deep green rug to make the hardwood floor a little more comforting. The other addition was some collapsible bookshelves Kanaya had brought with her, placed in the corner between the door and the bathroom, and a black bean bag Vriska had decided she couldn’t leave behind in her Sixth Form. With a stretch, Vriska threaded her grey curtains onto the rail and they decided to unpack all of her clothes into her wardrobe which she had repositioned closer to her bed. It created a small nook for her head as she slept which was something she always tried to create in her rooms. Luckily, she wasn’t the most fashionable type so her clothes filled about two-thirds of her wardrobe, the other third would inevitably be taken by Kanaya who had clearly brought a lot more than Vriska.

An hour or so later, both girls were decorating their room as most of the unpacking was complete. Just small aesthetic things like fairy lights around Kanaya’s bed and a few band posters on Vriska’s wall. 

“Yo, fussyfangs, what time is it?” she called to her roommate who was currently hanging her Anne Stokes calendar.

“About time you stopped with that infernal nickname, I believe. Or would you like me to start referencing your horrendous obsession with Dungeons & Dragons whenever I speak to you? Or perhaps you would prefer your old primary school nickname after that event with the poor kids tarantula.”

“Oh shoosh, you love it and that was not my fault." Vriska mockingly continued in a sickeningly sweet voice, "What is the time, Kanaya, my darling?”

Kanaya glared back and checked her watch “About four-thirty. We could go get some lunch from the buffet if you’d like then we may aswell get ready for the opening ceremony at half past six.”

“Now that,” Vriska replied enthusiastically, already pulling on her trainers, “sounds like a plan.”

The girls readied themselves, grabbed their respective keys and jackets and headed out of their room. As Vriska locked the door, insisting she had to be first to do so, Kanaya heard a shout from further along the corridor. “Hey, Kanaya! Dave and I were going to head down get some food so our roommates can move in in peace, if mine ever arrives that is. Would you like to join us?” Rose called, becoming less confident as she kept speaking long past her request.

“The plan just got better, fussyfangs." Vriska held out her hand to the girl. "I’m Vriska by the way, Kanaya’s roomie and her- Ouch! What was that for?!” Kanaya had elbowed her hard in the side, not wanting the new girl to know the ins and outs of her relationship status just yet. 

“I’m Dave, Rose’s cousin. Nice to meet you.” This came from the shaded boy with a similar appearance to Rose without much emotion and appearing to not care about whatever had happened between Vriska and Kanaya. “Now can we go, I’m fucking starving.”

The walk was short and uneventful. Luckily Sburb wasn’t the largest of Universities so the campus was quite compact with two dorm buildings, the main building and a scatter of specialised buildings for different areas of study. As a Drama & Film Studies student, Vriska would be spending most of her time in the expressive arts building alongside Kanaya who had chosen a degree in Fashion Design.

As the four entered the massive hall, they joined the queue through the kitchen where the hot food had been prepared. There seemed to be a sort of circular feed of people; first queue into the side room to collect the main meal and cutlery, then exit further along in the hall where there was drinks and a salad bar, followed by a dessert cart and then there was a multitude of old wooden tables and chairs to sit and eat at. The ceilings were high and the walls were covered with plaques denoting high-achieving students and previous headmasters. It was an old English school, no mistake.

There was a lot of food prepared for the students to choose from and after all four of them had filled their trays, they sat down and tucked into their meal. Kanaya and Rose had been having steady conversation this whole time and seemed to be hitting it off rather well. Dave and Vriska, on the other hand seemed to clash like hell so conversation wasn’t far beyond polite. 

“What are you studying, Dave? Are you following Rose with the literature or going down a different route?” Kanaya asked politely.

“Huh?” Dave looked up from his meal, obviously not really expecting conversation. “No way would I do any of Rose’s weird book shit, nah I’m actually fucking awesome if you couldn’t tell. I’m doing Computing & Music so I can be educated on how to most effectively deliver the sickest of the phat beats. When I’m all up and outta here it won’t be the last you hear of this Strider, you better keep an eye on the charts cause I’m going to be storming up that shit like the tornado through fucking Kansas. Sure as hell you aint in your little black and white town no more, little girl, you’ve just been delivered to the World of Strider, admission one, technicolour and skipping optional.”

“Oh, that’s… delightful.” Kanaya was somewhat taken aback by Dave’s way of speaking but remained polite nonetheless, especially as Rose had patted her shoulder in reassurance that everyone reacts the same when first meeting her cousin.

“Hell fucking yes its delightful,” he replied. Needless to say, Vriska decided to busy herself with eating for the remainder of the meal and Dave decided to screw in an earphone so he could listen to his music while he ate.

After cleaning away their trays and heading back to their floor, the four parted ways to their respective rooms so they could get ready for the opening ceremony. Rose and Kanaya departed somewhat awkwardly which Vriska noticed indefinitely but didn’t bring up until they were back inside their dorm room.

“Hey fussyfangs, what’s up with you and that goth chick? You seemed to be hitting it off just fine,” She said to her roommate, trying and miserably failing to hide the thick jealously in her voice.

“It is none of your concern. We are just students at the same university who happen to have rooms on the same floor. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“It didn’t look like nothing less. Come on Kanaya, you can’t keep anything from me!” There was venom in her voice as she spoke.

“Vriska, this isn’t your problem to deal with! Please just let me be.”

“Oh, there is a problem now;” feigning care, Vriska responded “do talk to Auntie Spiderbitch about all of your issues.” Kanaya glared and instead turned to the en suite bathroom. 

“I’m going to get ready; we should leave in half an hour.” With that, she effectively put an end to the conversation. Not that Vriska gave a damn anyway, why should she care if fussyfangs had taken an interest in someone? It’s not like she had a claim over Kanaya or anything. Well, pretty simply, she did and Vriska had all the twisted intentions to manipulate their past to her advantage. No way was Little Miss Maryam getting away from her that easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again for reading, I write for myself but other people enjoying it is awesome :)  
> Sorry its a couple of days late, the chapter was finished only, I have been at a friends house since Tuesday and didn't have access to my computer until now ;-;


	4. Ceremony - Aradia & Damara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: abuse, smoking, alcoholism

Aradia Medigo and her twin sister Damara were two of the last students to receive their accommodation details from the Sburb staff. Therefore they had not only had their fair share of the buffet but they had admired and discussed the majority of the student art hanging in the main hall. But at long last and 6 cigarettes on Damara’s part, the sisters were heading towards their new dorm.

Aradia studied her sheet, taking immediate notice of the amendment at the top warning her that this might not be her final room. She took a mental note, even though she still planned to settle into her room fully – no way was this going to be a setback before her year had even started.

“What room did you get, Dia?” called Damara, who had just studied her sheet.

“β1-8… whatever that is supposed to mean, hang on,” Aradia read through the sheet more carefully. “Ah, Beta dorm, floor 1, room 8.”

“Well that’s a relief; I was hoping we would be close. I’m room 11.”

Noticing how her sister didn’t have a similar red notice at the top of her sheet, Aradia realised there would be a slim chance that the two would be able to room together. This was a bittersweet feeling as the girls had shared a bedroom for the majority of their young lives. Then again, she wouldn’t have to deal with Damara’s nicotine addiction for the entirety of the school year. She smiled half-heartedly in return.

Together with their mother graciously helping her two daughters with their luggage, the Medigos entered the Beta dorm. Aradia immediately took note of the large common area to her left. The carpeted section of the ground floor began with a few bookshelves and bean bags, then basic tables and chairs and finally, up against the far, heavily windowed wall was what appeared to be a Starbucks-esque coffee bar. The shutters were currently closed but as this was Aradia’s first experience on any sort of dormitory, she was quite pleased with the open, comfortable layout.

This open area seemed to be quite helpful for a wheelchair-bound student and his friend who seemed to be in the process of moving into the large room βG-0. The pair seemed to be in a slight predicament involving the manoeuvring capabilities of the wheelchair, haphazardly loaded with their belongings.

Dropping her bags, she went over to the two and helped the very, very tall one hold the door open while the smaller boy with a mohawk-style haircut wheeled himself in. “Well, motherfucking thank you, little miss, we were all up and struggling to get Tav-bro through this doorway what with all our luggage and everything.” He turned to Aradia, who noticed his wild hair and face-paint; which she somewhat admired. She didn’t admire the strong scent of weed, but she was also no-one to judge.

“It’s no problem at all, I’m happy to help,” She beamed “It’s Aradia by the way, I’m moving in upstairs.”

“Nice to motherfucking meet you Aradia; I’m Gamzee, and this here is my main man Tavros.” Gamzee gestured to the other boy who had wheeled himself around to thank her.

“Nice to meet you, uh, Aradia,” he was somewhat shy and bashful, much unlike his companion. Glancing over to where she left her family, she wasn’t surprised to see a pile of her luggage and no-one else. “Hopefully, I’ll see you two tonight, it was lovely to meet you as well. But my family appears to have left me so I must venture upstairs on my own. See you!” Aradia ran back to her bags, waving at the two. She was happy to have already met other students and given a somewhat good impression, she hoped.

After the short journey upstairs, Aradia glanced around, noticing her red skirt-suit clad mother leaning against what she assumed to be her sister’s doorframe and checking her phone. She would see them soon enough so instead turned left down to where her dorm was situated. Door β1-8 was ajar and Aradia had already assumed her roommate had moved in. Taking a breath, she knocked lightly before pushing open the door.

Immediately, a short girl with a platinum bob looked up from her laptop to notice the dark haired person entering her room. She had one eyebrow raised. “Hi, I’m Aradia Medigo, your new roommate!” She said quickly while struggling with her suitcase.

“Oh, good, I was wondering when you would be arriving,” the girl shut her laptop and gracefully walked over to Aradia, her palm outstretched. “I am Rose Lalonde, a pleasure to meet you. Would you like a hand with your luggage?” After shaking Rose’s hand, Aradia took notice of the fully decorated side of the room, mostly covered in dark purple or black items. She gracefully accepted the girl’s offer and began manoeuvring her belongings onto her new dorm bed.

A short while later, Aradia’s mother turned the corner to check on her other daughter and luckily for her, she was right on time to hear Aradia’s request for help with the rest of her stuff. Apparently, Damara was moving in happily with her new, very bubbly roommate Feferi Peixes, though both of the other Medigos felt it wouldn’t be long until Damara couldn’t take such an upbeat attitude and flipped out. Ms. Medigo, alongside Rose and her daughter, took the remainder of Aradia’s crates and bags from the car to take up into her new room. There was thankfully nothing eventful that caused any problems along the way so it wasn’t long until both Damara and Aradia were back standing outside their mother’s car, holding onto her in a tight goodbye hug.

“I’ll miss you two so you better behave. If you get drunk, don’t complain and if you get high, try to enjoy the ride but if either of you get yourselves kicked out you’ll never hear the end of it.”

“We understand Mother. I love you, we’ll miss you as well.” Damara spoke into the fabric of her mother’s blazer.

“Be good, my beautiful girls, I’ll see you at Christmas.” 

With that, the sisters waved off their mother and returned to their rooms. After all, they both had to get ready for the ceremony.

When Aradia entered her room, she noticed Rose was perfecting her black lipstick and was in fact almost ready. She was nowhere near unpacked but it was a Friday and classes didn’t start until the following Monday so she had time. For now, she just had to stress over getting herself presentable for the upcoming opening ceremony. 

Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so, the girls readied themselves in borderline awkward silence which was broken by Rose’s voice as she waited by their door for Aradia to put on her heels. “My brother Dave is across the hall, we should probably see if he wants to go down to the main hall with us. Would you like to ask if she will join us too?”

“Naturally,” Aradia replied, now completely ready to leave. “Hopefully, she has been getting along well with Feferi. I have a terrible feeling they are going to clash.”

“I have a similar feeling with my cousin and his roommate if I am honest. They seem to be happy for the moment which is good enough for me.”

The two girls left their dorm and after a few minutes of waiting outside their relatives’ rooms, the group of now six teenagers began to walk to the hall where the ceremony would take place. Rose had not only been there the longest but had also taken an interest in the university’s itinerary, so she informed the other students that there would be a series of speeches from different staff and then a sort of mingling session for the students to make friends.

John Egbert, Dave’s roommate seemed to be very excited to meet new people and, along with Feferi, practically skipped along the path. Rose and Dave walked in comfortable silence next to each other, the two were close enough to know how each other were taking the new situation. Damara and Aradia hung back, the two having a similar outlook on the situation, though Damara was obviously looking for a quiet corner to have a cigarette. Naturally, it wasn’t too long until the older Medigo alerted her sister to her absence for the rest of the evening and left to join a group of smokers in a sort of alleyway between the main building and another, smaller one.

Aradia wasn’t surprised, instead opting to turn to Rose to continue their polite conversation. However, Rose’s attention was firmly grasped by the group of smokers. The tall kid with the face paint from earlier; Gamzee, if she remembered correctly, was standing there, though his wheelchair-bound friend was nowhere to be seen. Also among the group was a pair of tall women, one dressed in trousers and flannel whereas the other looked overly classy in a red bodycon dress, juxtaposing those around her. Red Dress took a drag from what appeared to be her partner’s cigarette then caught Rose’s eye, clearly flustered by her appearance. At this point, Aradia and Rose had stopped a few feet away from the group while John, Feferi and Dave had all walked inside the nearby entrance.

“Are you okay? Do you know them or something?” Aradia questioned Rose.

“Yes- no. No, I don’t. I just recognise them from our dorm is all.” Then without another word, she continued into the entrance. After a moment, catching Red Dress clearly wanting to chase after Rose but being held back by her partner, Aradia followed suit. It wasn’t her business after all.

Half an hour later, the majority of the students were seated, including the smoking group, and there had been a couple of speeches. None of them were particularly enthralling, Aradia had caught Rose reading on her phone before biting her lip and feigning interest in the next staff member speaking of last year’s successes. Damara seemed to be happy enough with her new friends so Aradia hadn’t seen her in a while, though she ended up seated next to Feferi. In lieu of her bubbliness she seemed to have a terribly short attention span, so Aradia found herself talking to her quietly instead of paying attention. She was an avid swimmer, came here to study Marine Biology and was hoping to be a professional sea diver somewhere tropical. 

John was seated next to Dave, who naturally was next to Rose, and he was more interested in comparing the large hall to a bunch of different movie sets than anything else. It was obvious he was studying something film-related, though his clear preference for bad Nicolas Cage movies was not something that would work in his favour. Aradia would much rather be studying ancient artifacts than cuttlefish or cinema however she knew she had a strong chance at getting along with the two.

-_-_-_

“Whale, that wasn’t very exciting at all…” Feferi piped up when the speeches were over and the students were free to mingle.

“What else would you expect? At least they didn’t drag them out too long.” Aradia replied, quickly taking a plastic cup of water while glancing around the hall for her sister.

“Luckily, we still have a decent amount of dedicated socialising time before we should return to our dorms,” Rose replied, smoothing her skirt and taking herself some water. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I plan to put that time to good use.” She sank into the crowd to find Red Dress, Aradia supposed. 

This left the remaining four kids to their own devices, but they all enjoyed meeting new people save for Dave, who was only partially paying attention due to an earphone in one ear. Feferi and John both decided to get lost in the crowd and try and make some new friends while Dave leant against the drinks table next to Aradia. “You gonna join the nerds or what, missy? Don’t feel like you gotta wait around with me to be polite, Striders are independent fucking men, we don’t need a lil lady trailing our steps to make us feel happy.” Taken aback by his outburst but not offended, Aradia replied.

“I should go and socialise, but it’s been a long day for me and I really need to move in properly. Are you all unpacked?”

“Hell yes I am. Apart from my turntables, still fighting with John over where I’m allowed to put them. Not that he has a say in whether or not I’m allowed to compose the sickest of beats during his precious pre-study time, nobody has the right to stop the Strider from kicking some musical ass like I’m John fucking Cena and he’s a bad pulled muscle or something that I really didn’t need before the next big fight. Dave vs Phat Beats 2k16, be there or be square, motherfucker.”

“Oh… okay… I think I’m going to go make some new friends. Nice talking to you, Dave!” Aradia politely escaped. The Strider was particularly intimidating before people got used to him. He wasn’t offended though, just saluted after her then screwed in his other earbud.

Aradia pushed her way through a group of students then heard some shouting from nearby which alerted her immediately. She rushed ver to the commotion and gasped audibly. Red Dress was on the floor, her nose bloodied and a large red mark was forming on her wrist and cheekbone. Standing over her was the flannel girl, through gritted teeth and with clenched fists she spoke with a quiet thunder down at Red Dress. “Don’t forget our agreement Kanaya, you don’t flirt with no other bitch while I’m around. You hear?” She snarled, her words slightly slurred as if she had drunk a little too much alcohol.

Rose was standing behind the two, a hand over her mouth as she watched Kanaya steady herself up onto her feet, wiping delicately at her face with a tissue from her handbag. “Vriska, you are drunk.” She spoke calmly like she had dealt with this more than once before. “I am not flirting with anyone else. Let’s return to our dorm so you can rest.” Kanaya clearly glanced apologetically at Rose before taking Vriska’s hand.

“Sure fussyfangs, don’t forget that you. Are. Mine,” she punctuated each word as she pulled Kanaya closer, kissing her messily and obviously not.

“Yes, I understand. Make sure you drink some water so you don’t get hungover,” Kanaya calmly led Vriska out of the hall though the students who had noticed, clearing a pathway for the two girls. 

Aradia quickly went over to Rose. “What happened, are you okay?” She still had her hand over her mouth but noticeably steadied herself before responding. “I’m fine, a little misunderstanding I think. Kanaya didn’t realise Vriska was drinking straight vodka instead of water. It seems she’s a bit of an angry drunk.”

Rose was clearly shaken so Aradia brought her in for a hug before suggesting they found their friends and returned to their dorm. Too much drama for one day, Aradia thought, wondering how the next few years were going to pan out if every day was like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was determined to get this uploaded today so many thanks once again to my editor for making that happen, check out his writing here - http://crawlinginchaos.tumblr.com/ ^*^  
> There will be more drama now a load of the characters have been introduced and I will start settling mush more into a few POV's (Honestly, writing as a different character each time is exhausting)
> 
> Thank you to everyone for reading this, I have over 100 hits at the point of uploading this! It makes me so happy to see the numbers increase, even only a little.
> 
> See you guys next week for the next chapter, maybe more will be revealed about Kanaya and Vriska's relationship... :::;)


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